With all the time Mom has you'd think she could have completed a blog post for a trip we took two and a half weeks ago. Not. But here it is.
On Monday, October 27, she decided it was time for an adventure. Shortly thereafter we were heading north with no particular destination in mind. She's like that sometimes. Spontaneous. So we jumped in the car and off we went at about 1:30 in the afternoon.
"How about Wyoming," she said. I just laid there on the back seat thinking anyplace is okay with me as long as I get to go for a walk.
Well, we drove and drove up I-25. She woke me up, "OMG, there are buffalo." Then she muttered,
going too fast to stop. I know she was disappointed that she didn't get a picture since it was the first time she'd seen buffalo. Oh well. We kept going until she saw a sign for Curt Gowdy State Park and decided that might be a good place to explore.
First, we saw a wind farm which always seems to fascinate her. Stop start, click click, stop start. A few pictures of the giant propellers later we're speeding along again.
Stop again. The wind was blowing and the vanes of the windmill were rotating very fast. Mom got out of the car and was gone for what seemed a long time. She walked up the road to catch some extra pictures. Even saw a dead deer by the side of the road. That must have been quite unpleasant.
Then on we went.
We finally made it to the Curt Gowdy State Park and got out so I could do my business. It was a bit blustery, so we didn't stay by the lake long. We headed up to the Visitors Center to learn more about the area. Mom wasn't in there long before she came back out to get me.
Meet Diana and Cathleen ... the hosts at the Center. Mom chatted for quite some time with them and guess what ...
I made a new friend ... Shiraz, a Goldendoodle. Oh my, we had such a blast. That's me ... the blurry whir of fur on top of Shiraz. Mom laughed. It is always good that I can make her happy, especially with my playful antics with another furry pal.
After a while Shiraz and I were totally worn out. Huffing and puffing. We rested while Mom asked Diana for recommendations on a route home. As she looked at a map, she picked out a dirt road and asked if we could get to the highway before sundown. Diana thought so and said that it would be the more scenic option.
As you can see, we were on the dirt road now and we started to see rock formations. Good thing because there wasn't much else out there.
Do you see the puppy dog in the formation above? That's what caught Mom's eye. Another bunch of stop start, click click, stop start.
After quite some time, lots of washboard bumpy road, Mom was looking at a massive, but not too exciting monument ... the
Ames Monument built in memory of the Ames brothers, Oakes and Oliver, Union Pacific Railroad financiers, completed in 1882. The pyramid monument's base is 60' square and stands 8,247' high. It was dedicated to the Ames brothers for their work completing the first U.S. Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. Unfortunately, the brothers were involved in a financial scandal and the monument was built in an effort to reclaim the reputation of Union Pacific Railroad. The cost then was ~$65,000, equivalent of ~$1.4 million today.
Suddenly she stopped as a herd of Pronghorn Antelope crossed the dirt road. Oooo, oooo, photo opp! There must have been a dozen of them.
They watched us and ate. Click, click, click. We must have sat there for 10-15 minutes just watching them back. On we went down this forever-dirt-road. It was no longer washboardy. That was good for me.
Mom talks to herself often on these adventures off the beaten path (this near Tie Siding, WY). There was a period she thought she was lost. The sun was setting. "Please little Buddha (the one on a bracelet she got for free at Light the Night), get me to a paved road before sunset."
Even with that bit of anxiety she noted how beautiful the landscape was. "Funny, I feel less lonely way out here than I do at home." I wondered what she meant by that, but of course she knew. It was just a feeling.
We arrived home at 7:45pm. It was good to go on an adventure. It had been a long time since we did a drive like that.
Thanks for stopping by, my friends. Mom sends her love.
I like it when she lets me tell the story.
